Days of our nights

Dammit, rock stars! We said be careful. While we were fully prepared for overdoses, air disasters, and even the odd spontaneous combustion, a collapsed lung was a little off our danger meter—and such is the fate that befell poor Tim Kasher, lead singer of the Omaha-based Cursive, whose band was slated to play here last week with Eastern Youth. Seems Mr. Kasher has quite the pain threshold, as he continuted to drive the group's tour van and even played a Salt Lake City gig while suffering through his major malady. Kasher finally checked himself into the hospital and underwent some intensive patch-up surgery. Consequently, local major-labelers Vendetta Red filled in on the top spot, turning Tuesday's Paradox show into a fund- raiser for the medically beleaguered Tim. Word is he's recovering well, but if you'd like updates, check www.cursivearmy.com. . . . Meanwhile, across town on that same Tuesday night, one outrageously healthy Andrew W.K. worked a sold-out Graceland crowd into a frothing, shirtless frenzy, causing even the most jaded types in attendance to jump onstage, hug their sweaty idol, and generally run completely, gloriously amok. Not that we blame them: If this man isn't the hesher messiah, then our name's not Shirley (well, it's not, but he is)—everything from "It's Time to Party" to "I Love N.Y.C." made the "No Stage Diving" signs posted prominently on all sides of the band laughably obsolete as, literally, the crowd went ape shit. Once the set was over, W.K. stuck around and, according to our DOON spy Ivan (we were dumb enough to think that when the show was over, it was over, so we went home), told the remaining fans, "I'm here for as long as you guys are!" He then proceeded to demonstrate his favorite dance moves and signed countless autographs with inspirational sayings like "The best thing is that there isn't one best thing. The best thing

Playing through pain: Cursive's Kasher busts a lung.

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is that everything is the best thing." Who knew Mr. "I Get Wet" was such a Yoda? . . . And a show report on that same venue's Queens of the Stone Age gig, two days later, from Andrew Bonazelli: "'We should throw stuff at him,' some miscreants snickered before the band's star-studded appearance on Thursday. Hey, I'm pissed that the 'him' in question dated Louise Post, too, but that's no reason to go all Mento on Dave Grohl. The gum-snapping living legend quietly stuck to the brutal business of propelling Queens' post-mullet dirges. The stoner rock-loving masses were treated to obvious favorites ('Feel Good Hit of the Summer'), Mark Lanegan cameos ('Hanging Tree'), brand-new ball crushers ('No One Knows'), and as much ventilation as Tom Arnold's tightie-whities ('A Vengeful, QOTSA Fan-Hating God')." . . . Tell us if we're boring the hell out of you, but we just can't get enough of these bootleg mixes. The latest? An open challenge to do the most remix-and-combine damage to Eminem's "Without Me." Find it at www.base58.com/ withoutme. This week, Slim Shady welcomes strange bedfellows like Hall & Oates' "I Can't Go for That" and Kylie Minogue's requisite "Can't Get You Out of My Head" as well as XTC, Dexy's Midnight Runners, the Smiths, and U2. Oh Mr. Mathers, how you inspire us. . . . The saviors-of-rock media overkill continues with this week's flavor, the Hives, who have garnered a full-page spread in Newsweek and two(!) whole pages in Time. Whatever happened to the slow build? . . . And an even better question: What's more fun than a barrel of drunken monkeys? You guessed it—the spur-of-the-moment supergroup, this time featuring Moby, Slash, Dave Navarro, Robbie Williams, Billy Duffy, and Billy Morrison (of the Cult), who recently played a one-off gig together in L.A. that included

covers of, among others, "Whole Lotta Love," "Fat Bottomed Girls," and "Gimme Shelter." . . . Speaking of Robbie Williams, one little U.K. gossip site tells us the British pop star's been hitting it with Christina Aguilera, who, last we checked, was getting "What a Girl Wants" from the aforementioned Dave Grohl (and then, we heard, Tobey Maguire, but dammit, there are some places even our dirty minds won't go). . . . Back in the studio: none other than Marc Almond and Dave Ball of Soft Cell, who'll release their first album since 1984's This Last Night in Sodom in September on Cooking Vinyl/SpinART, and will subsequently tour the States to support it. . . . Speaking of oldies but goodies, Mission of Burma will play some West Coast dates after all, hitting EMP on July 24. . . . And finally, our heartiest congratulations to Taylor Hanson, lead singer/best hairdo in Oklahoma's brotherly-love trio Hanson, they of "MMMBop" fame. The boy who was once mistaken by a Dust Brother for "a really hot girl," took longtime sweetheart Natalie Ann as his lawfully wedded wife last week in Pine Top, Ga. You're probably thinking: Can this possibly be legal? Yes indeedy—she's 18, he's a ripe old 19. Good luck, Taylor—and if you need any matrimonial advice, please don't hesitate to call teen divorc頡nd fellow pretty blond Macaulay Culkin.